I didn't like summer. Not only because of the mosquitoes and flies.
If you sat quietly in the classroom, besides the teacher explaining why we should choose A instead of C, the only sounds you could hear were the chirping of cicadas outside and the humming of the ceiling fans mingling in the stuffy air. Both were awfully disturbing, especially when you were trying your damnedest to note down all the writing on the blackboard in shorthand as fast as you could. Sometimes, you were so focused that you didn't realize you weren't interested in what you were listening to. The second year in high school wasn't fun at all. But I knew things could only get worse from the next year… correction, from September when we'd become third-year students who had to take the National Higher Education Entrance Examination the following June. So, by that time the following year, we'd have already taken the first two out of three mock exams, as well as countless tests. I sighed and then realized the teacher had cleaned the blackboard before I could take down the last two lines. Fine. I guessed I'd have to borrow Lili's notebook after school… for the fourth time.
The only thing that could get me through the unbearable morning was the thought that Lili would take me to a new restaurant near our school for lunch. Before that happened, however, there'd be a PE class to take. Looking through the window, I thought I was about to be dazzled by the sunlight.
Sometimes, I even envied those classmates whom the homeroom teacher asked to stay behind and work on the class board. That way, they could legitimately ask the PE teacher to excuse them from class. Since I had no talent for drawing and was thus deprived of the right to use that excuse, I had to secretly stay in the classroom, reading books, listening to music, and pretending I wasn't at school at all. So that was why I was sitting at my seat as usual, after Lili had failed to drag me out of the classroom.
But on that day, I wasn't alone.
His name was Chenhui, who, though a little bit taller than me, sat two rows in front of me in the next line. I never figured out how teachers assigned us seats – sometimes according to students' height or grades; sometimes they just changed our seats on a whim. Anyway, we'd been classmates since the first year in high school, but we seldom talked. I guessed I kind of enjoyed talking with friends, but he just seemed cold and unapproachable most of the time. I rarely saw him chatting idly with others. So I never had any chance to talk to him. The only thing I knew about him was that he was on the school soccer team, which was why I felt strange that he stayed in the classroom.
Actually, I hadn't even noticed him until he turned around and talked to me.
"Hey. You never go to PE class. Right?"
"Huh?" I raised my head and took off my earbuds reluctantly, as the chorus of the song was coming.
"I said you never go to PE class. Right?" He smiled and asked again, louder this time.
"Did anyone else notice that?" I suddenly became alert since I didn't really wanna go to the teacher's office or get put in detention because of this. I was always trying to be a good student, after all.
"I don't know." He laughed and shrugged.
I had to say that if I'd known he'd talk to me, I would've already gone to another place to hide, maybe the library. I'd always feel a little bit self-conscious and embarrassed if I was in the same room with someone I wasn't close to, since small talk wasn't really my thing.
Oh, shoot. Library. Why hadn't I thought of that place earlier? They had air conditioning!
"What are you reading there? It's not our textbook, is it?" His second question interrupted me while I was regretting it secretly.
"It's, um, something about the English language." It was The Fight for English written by British linguist David Crystal. Reading stuff about the English language was one of my hobbies in my free time, but I didn't think many people would find it interesting, so I just gave him a vague answer.
"Really? What is it?" He stood up and walked toward me.
The small talk might last longer than I'd thought.
He took a seat beside me and took the book from my hands, which seemed a little impolite to me since I hadn't even put a bookmark in yet.
"Hmmm… This seems interesting." He said as he flipped through the pages. That was new. As far as I could remember, he'd been the only one who didn't roll his eyes after finding out what the book was about. "Didn't know you're interested in this."
"Let's call it even. I didn't know you talk to people."
"What? That was the impression I gave you?" He looked surprised and handed the book back to me at the page I had just left off.
"Kind of. But at least you play soccer." I closed the book and put it back into my storage compartment.
"What do you mean by 'at least'?" He laughed.
"I don't know. Sports make people popular?" I turned off the MP3 player. He seemed much more outgoing than I'd thought.
"I also read. Does that make me more popular?"
"What do you read?" That would be fun if we had the same interest.
"Novels." OK. That wasn't what I was expecting.
"Well. What's your favorite?" Even though I didn't like novels at all, I thought it was good manners to keep the conversation going.
"Into the White Night by Higashino Keigo. It's a must-read. I can lend it to you if you'd like to read it." He looked sincere, which made me a little bit sorry.
"I'm afraid this novel is a little too long for me." I gave him an apologetic smile.
"That's true. That's why I often use it to swat cockroaches."
I chuckled. He was funny.
"Oh. Before you lend me the novel, would you mind lending me your notebook first? I zoned out for a little while in the physics class today, so I think I missed some notes."
He tittered and said, "Believe me, you don't wanna do this."
Then he walked back to his desk to fetch his notebook. As soon as I opened it, I knew what he meant.
His handwriting was nice, I meant, in the beginning. Then it got messier and messier. At last, it turned to some hieroglyph-like scribble, illegible at all.
I handed the notebook back to him and shook my head, "Can't believe I did even better than you. I'll ask Lili later."
"What are you guys talking about?" I didn't notice when Lili came in. I could see some sweat on her forehead, "Are you ready for lunch, Yang?"
"Speak of the devil." Chenhui murmured and closed his notebook.
"Sure." And then, I turned to Chenhui and asked him, "Do you wanna go with us?"
He shook his head and smiled, "Thanks. I hurt my knee and don't wanna go outside, so I've already got some bread today."
"We can get you some takeout if you want." Lili added.
"I'm good. Thanks. Don't bother." He smiled at Lili.
"Alright. So… see you in the afternoon." I said.
He gave me an eyebrow flash and didn't say anything.
It was freaking hot outside, and next time I'd definitely go to the library.
"Lili, I need your notebook again… You're the best." I said as we were on the way to the restaurant.
"Sure. But why don't you try Chenhui first? Because you'll definitely see him in the afternoon." Lili said affectedly. I promised I never used that voice to talk.
"Stop it! That sounded nothing like me." I giggled and flicked her forehead.
"Ouch! I didn't know you guys are friends." Lili said and gave me a mysterious smile.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" I felt myself blushing, so I grabbed her by the shoulders from behind and shook her in case she saw my face.
"He's kind of cute." Lili giggled, "Isn't he?"
Yup. Kind of.